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personal customers
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- Satisfaction with ethics
- Satisfaction with service, relationship and values
- Branch network
- Profile
- In line with the bank's aspiration to provide a personal service, increase the percentage of customers stating that they are 'treated as an individual' by the bank. TARGET ACHIEVED
- Increase the percentage of paper applications processed within 48 hours to 95%. ACCEPTABLE PROGRESS
- Increase the percentage of customers stating that their relationship with smile is 'excellent'. TARGET NOT ACHIEVED.
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performance
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Customer Satisfaction with
Priority Attributes of Performance |
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Agree |
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Disagree |
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Don't know/No opinion |
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Each category consists of several attributes:
Service: accuracy of transactions, complaint handling, helpfulness of staff, ease of contact.
Relationship: explaining how to make the best use of channels,
understanding and anticipating customers' needs, treating customers as
individuals, helping with customers' difficulties, the bank's interest in
retaining customers, communicating enough with customers.
Values: different from other banks and open, honest and caring. |
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| Satisfaction with the Bank's Ethical and Ecological Performance |
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Very Satisfied |
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Quite Satisfied |
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Quite Dissatisfied |
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Very Dissatisfied |
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Don't Know |
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| smile Customers: Overall Satisfaction |
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 Excellent - I can't praise it enough
 Good - well above what I expected
 Average - what I expected |
 Below average - I expected better
 Seriously below average - I'm very fed up with the service |
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| Branch Network |
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MORI Financial Services Comparison: Customers' Satisfaction with their Bank
Current Accounts 
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Savings Accounts
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Credit Cards
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Loans
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The Co-operative Bank
Fairly Satisfied |
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The Co-operative Bank
Very Satisfied |
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All Banks
Fairly Satisfied |
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All Banks
Very Satisfied |
(Source: MORI Financial Services. MORI interviews a representative sample of 48,000 adults in Great Britain each year. Data is based on the 12 month period for each year to December)
Current Account Profile: By "Household Type" (March 2002)
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GB Households 2000 |
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GB Households 2002 |
| A |
High Income Families |
G |
Town Houses & Flats |
| B |
Suburban Semis |
H |
Stylish Singles |
| C |
Blue Collar Owners |
I |
Independent Elders |
| D |
Low Rise Council |
J |
Mortgaged Families |
| E |
Council Flats |
K |
Country Dwellers |
| F |
Victorian Low Status |
L |
Institutional Areas |
(Sources: The Co-operative Bank, Marketing 2003
Great Britain Population, Experian 2002) |
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Experian * has devised a classification system called 'Great Britain MOSAIC', which classifies households by postcode. Each of the 1.6 million postcodes in Great Britain is assigned one of 52 MOSAIC types on the basis of socio-economic and socio-cultural data. These 52 types can be combined to form 12 groups. The graph shows GB
population by MOSAIC group compared with The Co-operative Bank's personal current account base.
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* www.experian.com
To follow any of the links mentioned within the Partnership Report 2002,
please visit the links page.
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commentary
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Financial exclusion One aspect of social exclusion is the lack
of access by many people to 'routine' banking facilities,
termed 'financial exclusion'. The bank now has over 14,000
customers with its basic bank account, 'Cashminder' (2001:
7,200). The bank discloses the profile of its current account
base again this year. A comparison with the population norm
indicates that the bank has fewer customers in MOSAIC group
E 'Council Flats'. However, the growth in Cashminder
accounts has contributed to a small year-on-year increase in
the provision of accounts to 'Council Flats' (a 0.12 percentage
point increase to 3.28%) at a time when this category is
decreasing as a percentage of GB Households (a 0.2
percentage point decrease to 6.20%). Performance should
also be considered in relation to the bank's provision of support
to the credit union movement, which seeks to widen access to
affordable credit and savings opportunities to those who
cannot or do not wish to deal with mainstream financial service
providers. Independent research commissioned by ABCULiii in
December 2002 showed that The Co-operative Bank is the
most widely used financial services organisation amongst
Credit Unions - 39% have their main current account, and
33% have some other account, with the bank. The most
important factors affecting choice were lower charges/better
rates, convenience of branch and image/reputation. For an
independent analysis of the degree to which the bank succeeds
in tackling financial exclusion please visit the bank's website.iv
Customer satisfaction Research commissioned by The
Co-operative Bank shows that customers' overall satisfaction
with the bank has increased to 77% ('excellent' or 'good')
during 2002 (2001: 72%) and is approaching the 2000 level of
82%. 82% of customers would recommend the bank to a
friend (2001: 80%). The proportion of customers stating that
the bank treats them as an individual has increased to 31%
(2001: 28%). By
comparison, MORI's surveys show that
Co-operative Bank current account, savings, credit card and
loan customers (which represent 80% of all bank accounts) are
more likely to be very satisfied than the market average.
MORI's most recent independent survey (December 2002)
indicates that The Co-operative Bank's current account
customers are more satisfied than the market average in
relation to all eleven measured dimensions: bank charges,
helpfulness of staff, queuing in branches, efficiency of dealing
with recent phone enquiries, speed of replying to recent
letters, reliability of telephone banking, reliability of Internet
banking, opening hours, privacy in branches, overdraft interest
rates and availability of cash machines. According to MORI,
58% of The Co-operative Bank's current account customers
are very likely to recommend the bank (2001: 51%), compared
with the market average of 33% (2001: 33%).
Mortgages The Certificate in Mortgage Advice and Practice
(CeMAP) consists of three separate examinations (CeMAP I, II
and III). The qualification provides customers with the
assurance of dealing with industry qualified staff. Of those
mortgage staff employed by the bank during 2002, 63% have
gained passes in CeMAP examinations (2001: 100%), with
28% being fully qualified (2001: 69%). This performance is
against the background of a 60% increase in the number of
staff in mortgage services.
smile The majority of smile v customers are attracted by the
convenience of managing their own banking on the Internet
and smile's competitive interest rates. Whilst customers rating
their relationship with smile as 'excellent' ('I can't praise it
enough') decreased slightly, the proportion of customers rating
smile as 'good' ('well above what I expected') or 'excellent'
increased slightly. 90% of customers would recommend smile
to a friend. Customers identified speed, ease of use and high
levels of customer service as the main reasons for their
satisfaction. smile won a number of awards during 2002,
including 'Best Internet Banking Provider' from 'Your Money'
magazine and best website, credit card, online current
account and savings account at the Guardian/Observer
Consumer Finance Awards.
Branch network During 2002, the following nine branches
were refurbished: Aberdare, Chester-le-Street, Chesterfield,
Glasgow, Luton, Peterborough, Plymouth, Rotherham and
Watford. No branches were closed in 2002. The bank opened
a temporary branch at the Athletes' Village for the
Commonwealth Games.
Complaints The bank remains the only high street bank to
provide all customers with service level guarantees covering
routine banking activities; where the bank fails it rectifies the
error, apologises to customers and pays £15 in compensation.
The bank's Customer Care team received 1,170 complaints in
2002 (2001: 1,053), of which 90 were referred to the Financial
Services Ombudsman (2001: 147). 6% of the bank's current
account customers surveyed by MORI in December 2002 had
complained during the year (2001: 8%). By
comparison,
10% of all other banks' current account customers surveyed
by MORI in December 2002 had complained (2001: 11%).
New products and services During 2002, the bank launched
a Platinum Base Rate Tracker Visa credit card with a guarantee
that its interest rate will only change in line with the Bank of
England base rate. In addition, a Gold Fixed Rate Visa credit
card was launched. The bank's mortgage range was extended
and became available to customers in Northern Ireland for the
first time. New product activity has contributed to a 55%
increase in the volume of paper applications, with the bank
processing 94% of applications for all major account types
within 48 hours. The bank's Internet site was redesigned and
relaunched with additional features (e.g. the facility to transfer
funds to any UK bank account). The website was judged to be
the 'Best Financial Services Internet Site' among 'traditional'
banks at the Guardian/Observer Consumer Finance Awards.
The website provides enhanced navigation and accessibility
for customers with disabilities (follow this link for the section on access to products and services). During 2002,
smile developed new products and services for its customers.
Working in partnership with 'Self Trade', smile developed
smile invest sharedealing, a quick, easy and low cost way for
customers to buy and sell shares. A new smile Visa credit card
was also launched in July 2002.
Industry codes The bank subscribes to the Banking
Code, the Mortgage Code and the General Insurance Code. In
2002, the Banking Code Standards Board found that the bank
had been in breach of the Banking Code in respect of one
case. In response, the bank improved the relevant procedures
to the satisfaction of the Standards Board. The bank also
identified two minor breaches of the Mortgage Code (one
failure to provide a customer with a requisite leaflet and one
non-compliant advertisement which was subsequently
rectified). For each Code, the bank has appointed a
Compliance Officer who liaises closely with the relevant
regulatory bodies to ensure compliance and to deal with any
issues that may arise. A revised Banking Code came into effect
from March 2003. The Code remains voluntary. The review
process included an explicit role for external stakeholders such
as consumer groups. Major new guidelines for the industry
include enhanced notification of interest rate changes to
consumers and smoother account transfer procedures. The
bank will continue to support and aim to comply fully with the
Codes in 2003.
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- www.co-operativebank.co.uk/personal
- www.co-operativebank.co.uk/personal/personal_current
- www.abcul.org
- www.co-operativebank.co.uk/ethics/partnership2002/pr/financial_exclusion.html
- www.smile.co.uk
To follow any of the links mentioned within the Partnership Report 2002, please visit the links page.
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ethical and ecological value analysis
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Ethical choices The bank has researched its customer base
to gain a better understanding of the importance of the bank's
ethical and ecological policies in attracting and retaining
customers. The results indicate, for example, that for 30% of
current account customers the bank's ethical and ecological
policies are the most important reason for opening and
maintaining an account. The research also indicated that
ethically motivated customers are more likely to have more
than one product with the bank and are more likely to
recommend than the bank's average customer. Follow this link for an estimate of the total profitability contribution attributable to ethically motivated customers.
By
comparison, MORI's surveys indicate that less than 1%
of all other banks' customers open their current accounts for
ethical reasons.
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new targets
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- Open a branch in Belfast.
Patrick Walsh, Director of Retail Network and Operations
- Increase the percentage of paper applications on all major account types processed within 48 hours to 95%.
Ian Hodges, Head of New Business Centre
- Increase the percentage of customers stating that their relationship with smile is 'excellent' or 'good' to 90%.
Phil Garlick, Director of Operations, smile
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